Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The Blueprint is the foundation, framework, and direction in building Personalized Learning Environments (PLEs) that transform teaching and learning and are sustainable over time.

Everyone in the school community is involved in the vision. Teachers are learners too. When you change the learning environment, teacher and learner roles change. Assessment is essential to measure progress and effectiveness of teaching and learning in the different Stages of Personalized Learning Environments. Assessment is conducted through each phase of the process.

Vision and PlanPhase One lays the foundation for your Personalized Learning Environments (PLEs). The key is to lay a foundation built on trust and respect from all stakeholders so there is a shared vision and common language around personalized learning.

Guide design of Personal Learning Plans and Toolkit for each Pilot Teacher.

Set up a Community of Practice (CoP) for Leaders, PL Coaches and Pilot Teachers.

Demonstrate how to unpack the CCSS and build inquiry-based environments.

Coach PL Coaches to design model lessons and projects.

Provide ongoing assessment of implementation that includes surveys, interviews, classroom observations, evaluations of training and coaching sessions, reflections, and other evidence of learning.

Provide reports about ongoing progress of PLE coaching program.

Expand and Sustain

Phase Three provides the direction to expand and sustain personalized learning for all learners.

Identify teachers ready to transform learning as co-teachers and partners in learning.

Coach the PL Coaches to set up their own Communities of Practice to support teachers.

Design ongoing coaching programs that support teachers and learners.

Develop Master Teacher and Lead Learner Programs as the human infrastructure that will support sustainability.

Encourage assessment AS learning with ongoing reflection and videos of process.

Coordinate a showcase and online area to demonstrate evidence of learning.

Conduct a post-assessment to measure transformation of learning.

Deliver progress report with recommendations and action plan for expanding and sustaining PLEs

The three phases are the overall process that we implement in the Blueprint. We have used this process in some form or another in our training and coaching programs for many years. When we pulled our resources and strategies together, we realized that we needed to formulate the process that we both were using as one Blueprint that could be easily understood and implemented.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Who is the Expert Learner?Expert learners take responsibility for their learning. They view learning as something they do for themselves, not something that is done to them or for them. [Source: The Expert Learner]

"The more educators give students choice, control, challenge, and collaborative opportunities, the more motivation and engagement are likely to rise. The enhancement of agency has been linked to a variety of important educational outcomes, including: elevated achievement levels in marginalized student populations, greater classroom participation, enhanced school reform efforts, better self-reflection and preparation for improvement in struggling students, and decreases in behavioral problems." [Source: Motivation, Engagement and Student Voice from the research from Students at the Center]

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) perspective for the Expert Learner is for a learner to be:

In a personalized learning environment, the learner fully understands how they learn. With this knowledge, the learner is empowered to have a voice and choice with their learning. In personalized learner-centered and learner-driven environments, they can be active and engaged participants in their learning. They are no longer the vessels where information is poured into them, but are learners who are motivated and engaged because they have a voice, choice and can monitor their own learning.

"Promoting student voice can be of enormous benefit to the teacher’s craft as well. When teachers open space for voice in the classroom, a unique window into what the student thinks and feels about her learning also opens. When student voice is facilitated, the teacher can observe how the student is making sense of things and where that student wants to go with that knowledge. Such information is invaluable to the teacher designing instruction to meet individual needs." [Source: Motivation, Engagement and Student Voice from the research from Students at the Center. p.25]

Building Learner Voice and Choice
The Three Stages of Personalized Learning Environments provide the process to encourage learner voice. This process can guide the design of personalized learning environments that meets the needs of all learners. Traditional teaching practice usually involves explicit direct instruction. In this case, everything depends on the teacher, the hardest working person in the classroom. To really learn something, the learner needs to be challenged and motivated enough to want to learn. When a teacher moves to Stage One, they give over some of the responsibilities of teaching to the learners so they are more motivated and engaged in how and what they learn.

Stage One is teacher-centered and encourages learner voice and some choice. Learner voice is a critical first step. There are ways to do this and this table below describes how the teacher and learner roles change in this stage.

When you design a project where you want to bring in learner voice and choice, consider referencing the chart above and starting with these steps:

redesign the learning environment so learners have access to multiple strategies that best meet their needs and the way they learn best.

encourage learners to create learning goals and a plan describing the strategies and resources that are appropriate to meet their learning goals.

encourage learners to select how they choose to access and engage with content.

When learners have the opportunities to say what they think and be heard by their peers and others, they feel their opinions and perspectives are valued and appreciated. Think about yourself as a learner and what it might feels like if you have a voice in how you learn and even influence decisions about teaching and learning.